A data protection system can use snapshots to record the state of a computing system at a point in time onto a disk array. A snapshot is a set of pointers that can be used to restore the state of a disk to the particular time that the snapshot was taken. For example, a base virtual volume can be used to store an initial state of a protected system to a disk array, and snapshot virtual volumes indicating differences from the base virtual volume can then be stored on the disk array. Once the snapshots are saved, the data can be backed up onto a storage device.